New Signs Acknowledge New Zealand's First Arboretum

New Zealand's oldest arboretum (curated botanical garden devoted to trees) received its most visible acknowledgement today with new signs installed renaming the former Thames William Hall Reserve as William Hall Arboretum.

William Hall Arboretum has an incredible collection of nationally and internationally significant trees grown from seedlings in the early 1870s by Thames pharmacist and botanist William Hall, including the separate Totara species know as Hall’s Totara, named in his honour.

Students from Hauraki Plains College were also on site today for a working bee as part of their Environment Day studies, joining representatives of Forest and Bird and Thames-Coromandel District Council's new Parks Officer and arborist Chris Muller.

Forest and Bird have had a close association with Council and William Hall Arboretum over the years and have contributed admirably via fundraising for projects in the park. Most recently they donated $16,000 to help carry out tree work when a listed pohutukawa was damaged. At that time, our new parks officer, arborist Chris Muller, wrote the tree report as a consultant arborist that helped Forest and Bird fundraise for the $16,000.

"It is satisfying to see the community is recognising the importance of our pioneer botanist, William Hall," says Forest and Bird Thames-Hauraki spokesperson Ken Clark.

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